National Theatre Scotland's A Christmas Carol

This production of A Christmas Carol by National Theatre Scotland uses a combination of puppets and live action. It looks rather menacing from this trailer:

Audiences of 90 are seated right in Scrooge's counting house for the show, which runs at Film City, Glasgow, until December 31, 2011.

Below, an enlightening interview with writer and director Graham McLaren and other cast and crew members about their approach to adapting Dickens's story for modern theatre audiences:

Scene from ACT Theatre's A Christmas Carol

I really enjoyed this scene from Seattle's ACT Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol. The adaptation is by American dramatist and ACT founder Gregory A Falls (1922-1999), and the show is now in its 36th year. I'm not familiar with the full play, but this excerpt, showing Ebenezer Scrooge's visitation from the Spirit of Christmas Past, is delightful. It even features Ali Baba and Robinson Crusoe from Charles Dickens's original story (which you can read online here). Actor David Pichette seems to have just the right liveliness and presence as Scrooge, and Sylvie Davidson's ghost is beautifully balletic.

Basil Rathbone as Scrooge (1954)

This rarely seen version of A Christmas Carol was broadcast on December 23, 1954, the fourth episode in the series Shower of Stars (1954-1958). The show usually took the format of a variety revue with celebrity guests such as Jack Benny, Shirley MacLaine and Ethel Merman, but occasionally there were plays like this one, starring Basil Rathbone as Ebenezer Scrooge. Fredric March is the narrator, and unknowns fill out the rest of the cast.

The story is heavily condensed to fill a mere 25 minutes. Sadly, the main victim is just about any reference to the injustices of Victorian London. The social concerns of "Ignorance and Want" were foremost in Dickens's mind when he wrote A Christmas Carol, so it's pleasing when an adaptation makes an attempt to set Scrooge's story in this context. It's almost entirely absent from this version, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, the chance to see Rathbone couples with the film's rarity to make it worth a look, even just to satisfy curiosity. Watch the videos below or click here to see the film on YouTube (in three parts).

Watch Scrooge (1935), starring Seymour Hicks

Scrooge (1935) is one of my favourite adaptations of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Seymour Hicks plays the miser with such gruffness, and yet he is thankfully free of the crude caricature Reginald Owen was to bring to the role in 1938. His final transformation is delightful, displaying an almost childlike innocence and joy.

Two versions exist, one lasting just over an hour and missing some of the key scenes that make this version so enjoyable. The version to watch is the full film below, which runs for just over an hour and 15 minutes.

See also Old Scrooge, a curious 1913 silent film which starred Seymour Hicks in the same role.

Old Scrooge (1913), starring Seymour Hicks

The 1935 film Scrooge, starring Seymour Hicks, is one of my favourite adaptations of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. It begins with such a bleak and gloomy atmosphere, much as the author described the scene in the book, and Hicks plays the miser with such dislikeable gruffness.

It was not Hicks's first attempt at the role on screen, however. In 1913, he played the part in a silent film, directed by Leedham Bantock. Its age certainly shows, but Old Scrooge is worth a look. It's particularly interesting to see how odd Ebenezer Scrooge appears in this version -- lanky, rather shifty. This was long before Alastair Sim's 1951 interpretation of the character, which in many ways defined how the character would be played by later actors and perceived by later generations.

Old Scrooge is notable for its prologue, featuring Charles Dickens in his home. His actual birthplace -- a house at number 1 Mile Terrace (now Commercial Road), Portsmouth -- is seen in the film.

Watch Part 1 of Old Scrooge below and the remaining four parts on YouTube: 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Many thanks to YouTuber dickenschristmas2011 for uploading this and several other versions of A Christmas Carol.

Scrooge: Which Actor Played Him Best?

Who was the best Scrooge on film?

Come December, this author will be eagerly dusting off his Christmas DVDs and settling down with a carton of eggnog to enjoy a handful of movie adaptations of A Christmas Carol.

The British character actor Alastair Sim has traditionally claimed the title of best Scrooge, for his sterling performance in the 1951 film. But does he deserve the accolade, or are there other actors who have excelled in the role? The competition is surprisingly fierce.

One of the earliest screen Scrooges was Seymour Hicks (pictured), in the 1935 film Scrooge. He played the old skinflint as a truly miserable, unlikeable character, unattractively scruffy and unkempt. Some screen Scrooges have been bumbling in a way that is almost endearing, but Hicks is a genuine wretch, never a loveable rogue. The tone of the film is exceptionally bleak, opening in dreary fashion with the sound of a Christmas carol being badly played through a thick London fog. Hicks, despite being forgotten in the wake of later portrayals of the miser, turned in a performance that rivals Sim and may well be closer in spirit to the dark, menacing Scrooge of Charles Dickens's original novel.

Another overlooked depiction of Ebenezer Scrooge is in the 1977 BBC version. The entire production, despite running just over one hour, is one of the most faithful adaptations of the book to date, capturing exquisitely the haunting, ghost-story elements of the tale. Michael Hordern plays the title role in this version; coincidentally, he was a marvellously memorable Marley's Ghost in the 1951 film.

George C Scott's performance in the 1984 TV movie, directed by Clive Donner, has also received high praise. Here again is a version that reflects much of the bleak, gritty reality of the story's Dickensian origins, and Scott plays Scrooge as a severe taskmaster, yet a man of apparent principle. And of course Dickens's Scrooge was, albeit in a strange way, a man of principle, opposed to the "humbug" of Christmas precisely because he perceived it as a hypocrisy.

Dozens of other actors have taken on the part over the decades, including Patrick Stewart, Albert Finney, Basil Rathbone and Jim Carrey. Hicks, Hordern and Scott give Sim a run for his jealously guarded money, but perhaps there is good reason why Sim remains the silver screen's best-loved Scrooge. No one presented quite such a mirthful and inspiring transformation as Sim. It is hard not to bubble over with gladness along with Sim as he tosses his quill aside and collapses with glee at the end of A Christmas Carol (1951). He gives us the mean-spirited miser, but later provides us with a redeemed Scrooge who warms the heart, brought merrily and unforgettably alive by the spirit of the festive season.

Buy Scrooge/A Christmas Carol on DVD and Blu-ray

Film Review: A Christmas Carol (1984, starring George C Scott)

Clive Donner directs George C Scott and an all-star cast in this enduringly popular version of the classic seasonal tale.

In this 1984 TV movie, George C Scott plays Dickens's famous miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, whose mean-spirited ways are challenged by the appearance of three ghosts on Christmas Eve.

Adaptations of A Christmas Carol stand or fall on the performance of the actor playing Scrooge. George C Scott plays the title role as sharp, principled (in his own weird way) and with his wits firmly about him, in contrast to the way, say, Reginald Owen played him in 1938, or Kelsey Grammer in the later TV musical (2004). No shuffling and hunching and comical mumbling here. He's no caricature, but a very believable character.

Scrooge's increasing anxiety in the final segment, as he struggles to avoid what he knows is true--that the dead man in his vision is him--is particularly well-played, and his desperate pleas as he sees his own grave and acknowledges his fate are both convincing and curiously painful.

Frank Finlay plays Marley's Ghost, bringing to the role some of the camp qualities associated with Michael Hordern (1951) and Alec Guinness (1970), but with a suitable eeriness, too. His fixed expression and occasionally robotic delivery of the lines has a remarkably chilling effect. As the Ghost of Christmas Present, Edward Woodward is jolly at the right time and frighteningly stern at other times, as the character ought to be. Angela Pleasance was the right choice to play the Ghost of Christmas Past, which Dickens describes as androgynous. Only Roger Rees seems a bit out-of-place, appearing much too morose as Scrooge's nephew, Fred.

Director Clive Donner handles the horror aspects of the story excellently; a failing in many adaptations. A Christmas Carol is, after all, a ghost story. Key scenes such as Marley's arrival in Scrooge's chambers and Scrooge's visit to the graveyard with the Ghost of Christmas Future exude a genuinely frightening atmosphere.

The film is one of the few versions of the story to feature extensive shooting on location, rather than confined to a studio backlot. The English town of Shrewsbury stands in for Victorian London, giving the production a pleasing authenticity. The prop men left behind Scrooge's gravestone in St Chad's churchyard, where it can still be seen today.

Those intimately familiar with Dickens's novel will appreciate this version for its faithfulness to the source. Its popularity ensures it airs regularly on TV, and for fans who'd like to savour the movie all year round, it is now available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray.

Click below to buy A Christmas Carol (1984) on DVD or Blu-ray